diff --git a/Sources/Services/ContainerAPIService/Client/Parser.swift b/Sources/Services/ContainerAPIService/Client/Parser.swift
index ef209df5c..272469284 100644
--- a/Sources/Services/ContainerAPIService/Client/Parser.swift
+++ b/Sources/Services/ContainerAPIService/Client/Parser.swift
@@ -245,7 +245,9 @@ public struct Parser {
             if label.isEmpty {
                 throw ContainerizationError(.invalidArgument, message: "label cannot be an empty string")
             }
-            let parts = label.split(separator: "=", maxSplits: 2)
+            // Split on the first `=` only, so a value may itself contain `=`
+            // (e.g. `--label 'rule=Host(`ex.com`)'`), matching `docker run --label`.
+            let parts = label.split(separator: "=", maxSplits: 1)
             switch parts.count {
             case 1:
                 result[String(parts[0])] = ""
diff --git a/Tests/ContainerAPIClientTests/ParserTest.swift b/Tests/ContainerAPIClientTests/ParserTest.swift
index 0dcc6f7cf..f05049dd0 100644
--- a/Tests/ContainerAPIClientTests/ParserTest.swift
+++ b/Tests/ContainerAPIClientTests/ParserTest.swift
@@ -1348,6 +1348,22 @@ struct ParserTest {
         #expect(result["key99"] == "value99")
     }
 
+    @Test("label value may contain '=' (split on first '=' only)")
+    func testLabelValueContainingEquals() throws {
+        let result = try Parser.labels([
+            "config=key=value",
+            "traefik.http.routers.x.rule=Host(`ex.com`)",
+            "plain=value",
+            "novalue",
+            "emptyvalue=",
+        ])
+        #expect(result["config"] == "key=value")
+        #expect(result["traefik.http.routers.x.rule"] == "Host(`ex.com`)")
+        #expect(result["plain"] == "value")
+        #expect(result["novalue"] == "")
+        #expect(result["emptyvalue"] == "")
+    }
+
     @Test("resolve with large input preserves all entries")
     func testParseKeyValuePairsLargeInput() {
         let pairs = (0..<100).map { "key\($0)=value\($0)" }